Porsche racing driver killed in Australian crash

By Derek McNaughton, Postmedia News

Originally published: October 15, 2013

Famed British racing driver Sean Edwards was killed in an accident Tuesday during a private event at the Queensland Raceway in Australia.

Edwards, 26, was sitting in the passenger seat as an instructor when the driver of the car lost control, crashed through a tire barrier and into a concrete wall where the car burst into flames.

Edwards was currently leading the Porsche Supercup series that follows the Formula One calendar. He was also involved in the filming of Ron Howard’s Formula One racing movie Rush, in which he played the role of his father, Guy Edwards.

Edwards was a Porsche specialist who this summer won the gruelling Nurburgring 24-hour race in a Mercedes-Benz shared with Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Nicki Thiim.

“Our thoughts are with his family and we want to express our deepest condolences to his relatives,” said Hartmut Kristen, Head of Motorsport at Porsche

In 2006, Edwards became champion in the FIA GT3 European Championship. He has competed in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup since 2008, and in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland since 2010.

The son of ex-Formula One pilot Guy Edwards, Sean Edwards was at Willowbank on a working holiday in Brisbane.